Not That Fleet
Axis says, "Speerspitze von der luftwaffe Axis approaching outer security marker Bravo-Eight-Four-Niner. Marker clear of contacts, confirmed. Moving to next marker." Fleet's vocalizer crackles slightly as though he's about to say something, and then he falls silent. Axis says, "Unidentified transmitter, do you have traffic?" Fleet says, "Negative." Fleet says, "Several of the terms you employed aren't in my database. I was trying to figure out what to make of them." Transmission from Catechism: He's Terran-tainted. DIS Annihilator Imagine your worst nightmare. Here it is. Contents: Galvatron Catechism has arrived. Axis says, "Understood. Approaching outer perimeter marker Delta-Three-Five-Three. And your database is sorely lacking, mein bruder... Verified clear, no contacts. Moving to next marker." Scourge has arrived. Scourge stalks into the area. Galvatron says, "We are preparing to make the jump now. All stations, prepare for jump." Axis says, "Marker Foxtrot-Four-Niner-Zero all clear, no contacts. Your approach is yours for the taking, Kriegsherr Galvatron." Galvatron says, "I want immediate red alert, any and all sensor deflector shields activated on arrival. Half contigent launch. The other half we will save. I want internal systems and scanners at full." Catechism glances around wildly, looking to get herself secured somehow in case of turbulence. Decepticon engineers aren't known for building their vehicles to be passenger friendly, and why bother? A little discomfort saves on fuel costs, which only benefits the cause. Galvatron looks over to his deck officer, "Fireflash. Prepare all stations for jump. On my mark." he speaks into the loudspeaker, "For all those not on the bridge, secure for launch." he speaks into the broadband radio. Galvatron says, "Jump in T-Minus 1 minute." Scourge steps onto the bridge quietly, the lift doors sliding shut behind him, glancing around. After a moment, he ascends to Galvatron's presence. "It appears the endgame is already written, my Lord. This vessel is genius." Axis says, "Jawohl, Lord Galvatron! Das scwert vom Reich wird oberst herrshen! MUAHAHAHAHA!!!" Galvatron says, "HEIL DECEPTICON!" Axis says, "Sieg heil Reichsmarshall GALVATRON! You sail upon our assured victory, mein fuhrer! Your ever faithful acolyte awaits!" Galvatron looks back at Scourge, "Of course it is. Be ready to signal full alerts, brother. They will be ready for us. We move straight for Earth. Weapons engineer! I want all turrets charged and ready. I want the meched ones meched, the auto's AI fully online. I want main cannon online. Ready to fire a warning shot at the Earth's ocean." Fleet is... back with all the other little troopers and grunts and, like Catechism, working on securing himself for the launch. He suppresses a cringe at the strange language that seems to have taken over the Decepticon channel, muttering something that seems to include the words, 'Terran taint'... Galvatron says, "Jump in T minus 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. ENGAGE HYPERDRIVE! Be prepared!" Patrol Captain says, "Count one flat top. Repeat. Count one flatop. Decepticon mega-carrier has reached Sol. Michael Briar says, "Understood. All fighters and shuttles, launch now. EDC and autobot shuttles and fighters, scramble scramble scramble!" This ship jumps into the Sol system, Galvatron immediately barks out orders, "All systems, full attack status! All stations, red alert! Begin launching half contingent. Prepare for battle! Beeline straight for Earth! Scourge, you are the fighter wing commander." Axis says, "Do you hear the rumble of her engines, little children? The thunder of her approach? It is only the sound of the inevitable, Herr Briar! Do not deny that which you've earned! It HAS been a long time in coming, Herr General... Your demise will come swiftly, on the pitter patter of tiny little laserblasts. hahahaha!!" Galvatron says, "Decepticons! We have arrived. Half launch. All systems full go. Battle stations, battle stations. Beeline straight for Earth. I have something to SHOW Rodimus. Scourge has lead of the figher wings. Hold half in reserve. The other half...full launch. Prepare for victory!" Axis says, "Oberherr Scourge! You have the might of Axis at your disposal. I need only your wishes as to my location to be your ever faithful right hand." Michael Briar says, "Ich bin...shut the hell up." Galvatron says, "Axis, you are second in command. Take squads 4 and 5." Axis says, "It cries... Awwwww. I may consider doing you the honor of scraping you from my jackbooted heel so that your ilk can bury you with honor. Or not... *sickening chuckle*" Outside> EDC AF-27 enters from Landing Fields . Outside> EDC AF-27 has arrived. Scourge says, "Time to lay waste to these pathetic bags of flesh." Catechism manages to get herself strapped in just in time, despite her awkward down-wings. She glances over at Fleet, who is her usual wingmate, as odd as that may be. She's got a bit of a funny expression on her face, but mostly, she looks excited. The cloudy seeker asks of Fleet, her tones hushed, "You ready for this?" She's not actually questioning whether or not he is; rather, she speaks to pass the nervous time before the battle, to fill in the eye of the storm. Catechism doesn't brother with radio chatter. She's only a grunt, and she'd probably just end up offending someone. Scourge smirks, and heads back out towards the lift. Time to hit the airlock and hit space. Axis says, "As you command, Lord Galvatron! FLIEGERS! TO ME! Squad 4, close to my flank, Squad 5, trailing pattern, 5000 feet over, mark One-Eight-Zero!" Galvatron says, "Greetings, Earthlings. As you no doubt have noticed, you have a mighty vessel making a beeline past your brigades towards Earth. Go ahead, fire at it. I long for you to see this beauty in combat. Soon, you will understand. Surrender now, or witness the might of my armed and full operational battleship!" Outside> Interstellar Shuttle enters from Landing Fields . Outside> Interstellar Shuttle has arrived. Outside> Within the Interstellar Shuttle , Michael Briar runs into the Asimov as several other troopers enter as well. He sits down in the command chair as the bridge crew begins to take their stations. Michael says, "All engines online. Get this bird into the air!" He clicks on his shortwave and says, "Kenya, you have the fighter groups. Let's do this." The ship slowly takes off, as well as several other shuttles. The Ticonderoga. The Intrepid. The Explorer. The Banzai. All with full crews, ready to take the fight to the decepticons. Michael sits there in the command chair as the helmsmen points the shuttle straight up into the sky with several other points of lights following close behind. Outside> DIS Annihilator soars towards Earth's orbit at full speed. It's turrets active. It's main cannon, charged. It already has half of it's contingents flowing out of it's multiple fighter bays. The engines burn, but you don't see them burning, they are designed as such. It avoids destruction of the engines from without. This behemoth is on a mission...engaging it may prove deadly. The corner of Fleet's lips quirk up in a slight smirk as he shrugs and leans over to Catechism. "If I'm not ready by now I'm in a lot of trouble anyway, aren't I?" He seems rather calm, actually. Sure, he's a coward, but going out with a large force is the sort of thing he's been doing all his life. He's managed to come back from plenty of these things in the past, and is certain enough he'll figure out his way back from this one. Michael Briar says, "*a bit of static, then General Briar's voice filters in* DIS Annihilator, This is EDC General Briar. You are ordered to power down your weaponry and leave the sol system immediately. This act of hostility against the earth will 'not' be tolerated. Autobot help or not, you shall not survive this. I'll make sure of that myself. You have one minute to comply or we shall open fire on you. All shuttles and fighter groups, standby to engage. Briar out." Galvatron laughs at his monitor, "Scourge, Fleet? Did you hear that? Can you BELIEVE that? He threatened to destroy us? HA! HA! HAHAHAHAHA! Scourge, get out there, lead the troops out there. We'll show them what for." Outside> Within the EDC AF-27 , Kenya Momesa nods even though no one can see him, "Roger that General." Then he swtiches to another channel, "You heard the boss guys, all the fighters get ready to attack. Do not waste any time trying to dig an hole in that thing, concentrate your fire on their weapons, we must give a chance to the shuttles to come closer. If they launch any fighters, destroy them. It's time to show them what we can do, let's go! For now escort the shuttles, but be ready to attack the ship as soon as I give you the word." The Starskimmer positions itself near the Asimov while they are approaching. Galvatron says, "EDC fleet, as you can see, we have already deployed some of our fighter contingent. We have no intention of standing down. You will stand down or be destroyed. Surely you have Autobot scans of this ship. You know that your shuttles and fighters can't ding it. We will continue on our present course. If you get in our way, we will open fire with all 400 of our turrets." Catechism unstraps herself from the crash restraints, a bit quicker about it than she was donning them, and gets ready to deploy. She can't go just yet, being a non-orbital craft, but she'll be ready when the time comes. Catechism nods to Fleet, smiling. "True enough." Axis says, "Closing on intercept point, ETA *POW!* Nnnnggghhh!!! Right engine, losing pressure... No contacts on radar, no incoming fire... Can't maintain altitude... NNNGGGHHH!!! *static*" Galvatron says, "AXIS?!" Outside> DIS Annihilator soars towards Earth, it and it's fighters have absolutely intention of stopping. It continues on it's course, fighters surrounding it on it's fore, aft, starboard and port. Obviously, Galvatron was serious. Michael Briar says, "Maybe, maybe not. But this is our planet, we shall not bow to any decepticon, no matter what we stand against. All EDC shuttles and fighters, attack! Take that ship down!" Scourge is already on his way, stepping into the lift and heading down. Once on the flight deck, he immediately transforms, rocketing out of the ship and into the fray. Scourge seems to fold in on himself as he shifts and contorts into the visage of the Sweep-Flagship, complete with nifty sound effects. Sweep-Flagship <> has left. Outside> Sweep-Flagship <> has arrived. Outside> Sweep-Flagship <> soars into view from above. Kenya Momesa says, "Yeah yeah yeah, we can't stop you... been there, done that, got a t-shirt. You heard the man boys, destroy those fighters!!! go go go" Outside> Within the Interstellar Shuttle , Michael Briar says that and then says, "Helmsmen, take us in, 011 by 043. Evasion pattern delta. Weapons, lock onto their weapon turrets and fire!" He clicks on a radio, "Ticonderoga, Intrepid, take the left flank. Explorer and Banzai, follow them in. Strafing pattern omega. All ships, fire!" The Asmoiv rockets in, engines running bright and blue as it heads towards the decepticon fighters. Weapon ports slide open showing lasers turrets and missile launchers, which scream their song of death towards anything that's decepticon. Fleet follows Catechism's example, removing the restraints and preparing for when the warship enters the atmosphere, his expression set and serious. He says nothing, although looks up curiously as he thinks he hears his name mentioned? No, probably not. After all, the word 'fleet' has been bandied about a lot lately. Shockingly, Ramjet had been right! This did have the potential to be confusing! Outside> Within the EDC AF-27 , It's now time for actions. Kenya and the other AF-27 leaves their formation around the shuttles. "Take care of the figthers first, they must not reach our shuttles." The Starskimmer is the first to dive into the battle, firing all its weapons towards the Decepticon's ships, dodging as well as he can. The benefactor commander tries to go deeper into the Decepticon's formation but is slowed by all the opponents blokcing his way. Outside> Sweep-Flagship <> zips out of one of the DIS Annihilator's hangar bays, immediately heading straight for the front lines. He takes several pot-shots at approaching Terran fighters when he has the chance, but mostly charging for the front, where he can get to the /real/ action. Outside> Michael Briar disembarks from the Interstellar Shuttle . Outside> Michael Briar has arrived. Outside> Michael Briar completes his repair work on Interstellar Shuttle . Outside> Michael Briar has left. Outside> Michael Briar boards the Interstellar Shuttle . Galvatron laughs as the blasts hit the ship, "Is that it? That's all they can do? Helmsman, continue onward! Full turrets, fire! Manned turrets, take target of oppurtunity. I want the AI ones taking anything that gets close! Full throttle! Scourge, fighter report!" Outside> DIS Annihilator continues onwards, the shots from the ships acting like beestings. The ship itself opens fire with it's turret. The 200 AI ones fire at anything that gets near them with both plasma and laser alike. The manned turrets fire at targets of oppurtunity. Outside> The fighter squads are merciless, firing at anything remotely EDC in nature. Even so, the occasional fighter does get shot down, but as many as there are, the losses appear to be minimal. Galvatron says, "Are you ready to surrender yet, Briar? We've only got a few astromiles before we hit orbit. I look forward to showing you what this ship can do." Outside> And as the fighter wings do their thing, Scourge is doing his, finally reaching the frontlines. "Minimal losses thus far, my Lord," he reports back via radio. "We are more than holding our own against the pathetic EDC forces. I've killed Minibots with more fight in them." Outside> Within the Interstellar Shuttle , Michael Briar grits his teeth as a blast rocks his ship causing a few lines of coolant to blow that run along the top of the bridge sending cooling mist to flow down in a steady stream. He grips the chair as the Asmiov is pulled into a sharp roll to avoid a few decepticon seekers that streak by, and fire on the ship rocking the shuttle even more. Still, the shuttle's hardly slowing right now. Michael calls out, "All shuttles, move as close as you can to the Annihilator. Engage it at near point blank range." He looks towards his damage control officer and shouts, "Damage report!" He responds, "Ionized hull eighty percent intact. Primary systems at seventy five percent." Michael grumbes at that. With only a few shots, the ship is damaged. Lovely. He nearly shouts, "Helmsmen, change course, 114 by 089. Take us away from the fight and prepare to make a microjump to these coordinates. Best possible speed!" He punches them into his keypad and sends it to his helmsmen. His Helmsmen says, "Sir, this will take us out of the fight and to mars." Michael growls at him, "I know, do it!" The Asimov quickly breaks away from the other shuttles and begins pulling away at a faster and faster speed. In another few moments it will clear the battle and be quickly on its way. Michael Briar says, "Hardly..." Outside> Within the EDC AF-27 , Kenya Momesa quickly notices Scourge among the Decepticons fighters, knowing he is the most dangerous, the benefactor decides to distract him from the others, they battled a few times and he's sure Scourge didn't forget him. Kenya quickly opens his radio to send a message to the Sweep commander, "Look who's showing his ugly, my old friend Scourgy. This is my first and only warning Decepticon. Leave the solar system at once." Of course, Kenya doesn't expect Scourge to obey and that's why he doesn't lose any time and maneuvers his fighter to intercept the sweepcraft. Galvatron laughs at the blasts "This is so amusing. They can't do a thing. Fleet, Catechism...we will soon reach orbit. But until we do, man turrets." he looks to the radio "Scourge, keep them busy, we're almost there." he looks to the gunnery sergeant "Fire the main weapon when we reach orbit. If Briar won't stand down, we'll make him. Target where we discussed...for now." Outside> Sweep-Flagship <>'s radio picks up on Kenya's broadcast, and he smirks inwardly. "Ah, Momesa... you're not still upset about how badly I defeated you in the Olympics, are you? No matter, I have no qualms about ending your pathetic existence here and now. The hunt begins." Outside> DIS Annihilator trucks onwards towards Earth, almost there. It reaches the planet, taking scratches here and there as it returns fire. It's like the ancient juggernaut, unmoving...unhurting. How can something such as this be stopped? Something begins to glow on it's front. A mighty cannon, a cannon capable of much death. Finally, it snaps and blasts a full powered blast at the Earth. You can almost here people scream "NOOOOOOOOOOO" But alas, the cannon blast doesn't strike a city, or farmland, or oilfields. No, it just strikes the ocean, super boiling water and making a mean crater. Nothing more, nothing less. This ship has mercy? Who knew. Or maybe it's just to goad them. The cannon begins to charge again. Galvatron says, "WITNESS MY POWER, FLESHLINGS! KNEEL! SURRENDER!" Michael Briar says, "Sorry, but I don't do the surrender thing. I'd rather go out as I came in, kicking and screaming." Outside> Power Armor enters from the Stratosphere above Western Hemisphere. Outside> Power Armor has arrived. Galvatron says, "Did you not just see what this ship could do?" Galvatron says, "What if I were to target say...Iowa?" Foxfire squeaks, startled. Outside> Telestar has connected. Michael Briar says, "You already have before. Couldn't stop you then, can't stop you now. But this time, I might have a chance to correct that." Fleet stands up straight and offers a proper Decepticon salute before scurrying off to obey, hopping into a seat and giving a once over of the systems. He's had no more then basic training on these things, but how hard can it be? Just point and shoot, right? And there are lots of handy little targets out there... Strange, but the coward would rather be out there fighting on his own rather than inside the safety of the ship. It's the internal conflict he always faces: he may have a greater concern for his own well-being than he should, but he is still a weapon, and longs to be used as such. Outside> Milstar II Telecommunications Satellite returns to his regularly scheduled orbit of Earth, already in progress. Layla Bastet says, "How about a few kilometers south of New Zealand. I hear it is a piece of real-estate that needs raizing." Galvatron says, "Ha ha." Outside> Within the EDC AF-27 , Kenya Momesa grins under his helmet, "Bragging as usual Scourge? Let's see if you can catch me, I may be a prey a bit too tough for you..." The benefactor commander quickly maneuvers his spacefighter to place Scourge in his line of sight. He barely avoid a missile fired by a Decepticon fighter, before sending a rocket of his own towards the sweep leader, "Here's a little warm up for you." With a leap canards and wings begin to fold out and rotate into place. Arms retract and legs change into powerful engines. Out of what seems a flurry of motion streaks a sleek and powerful jet fighter. Catechism looks a bit startled, optics blinking on and off a few times. Lord Galvatron knows her name and can pick her out from the faceless hordes of seekers? That's...odd. Their leader has a very good memory for colour schemes and peruses the listings of grunts, then. She hurries over to a turret station to do as ordered. The controls are unfamiliar to her, but she does her best. Outside> Within the Interstellar Shuttle , Michael Briar brings his ship ready for a micro-jump to Mars, and in a blink of bright light from his engines, the Asmiov is gone. Mars: near orbit. The Asmoiv blinks back into existence once again. Only blackened and scorched in a few places. Michael hears his helmsmen say, "Microjump complete." Michael automatically says, "Re-plot course minus three degrees. Bring us right behind the cons flagship." He clicks on his shipwide intercom, "All hands, ready the device. Set for five minutes countdown, then be ready to abandon ship." A few of the bridge crew look towards Briar with more than concerned looks. But Briar snaps at them, "You have your orders, now get to it." He leans back into his chair, "That's an order." He then waits for his helmsmen to answer back, "Sir, microjump plotted, ready on your mark." Michael sits up in his chair, "Mark..." For the second, and final time, the Asimov disappears as it slips from existence and then reappears a few dozen seconds later, back into the battle. Only this time behind the decepticon flagship. Michael calls out, "All crew, abandon ship." He then stands and walks towards the helm, "I'll take it from here. Now move!" He says it with complete conviction as everyone clears out. A dozen starknight exo-suits and two AF-27 fighters launch from the Asimov. Michael runs a hand over the controls and takes a seat at the helm mumbling, "Shit, I hate my job." He then punches the ship into action while he activates the device that was loaded onto the ship earlier today. Outside> Telestar transmits a message via radio. Galvatron says, "Main cannon is half charged. All ships, continue firing. Scourge, I want that Terran ship you're attacking taken down. Fleet, Catechism, keep firing." Outside> Telestar receives a radio transmission. Outside> Within the EDC AF-27 , Kenya Momesa looks at the viewscreen. Scourge says, "Understood, my Lord. The Benefactor will be removed as anything remotely resembling a threat in short order." Fleet says, "Aye, sir." Galvatron smirks widley, "Next target: Des Moines IOWA. Cannon half charged. Hull integrity is at 99.7. Excellent job. They can't hurt us, and they know it. Victory is ours! Outside> Power Armor is late. Probably because she was making sure that the medical facilities were well in order before she suited up and blasted off to join the fighter squadrons. Her tardiness was for a good cause. Someone's probably going to need her before the night is over. Outside> Milstar II Telecommunications Satellite releases a tiny, microscopic pod into the air. It begins to float gently towards Earth. Outside> Sweep-Flagship <> banks to the left, the craft corkscrewing as it does so, then kicking in the afterburners. "You call this a warm-up, Momesa? I'm amused by your sentiment. If that's your warm-up, then I have no problem with taking you down here and now." Plasma beams cut through space towards Momesa's fighter. Forget the subtlety of taking out the engines. Scourge just wants the entire fighter vaporized. Fleet glances over at his somewhat less technically inclined wing mate, who has manned a turret near his, and stifles an sigh. Vocalizers emit an electronic speaker-hiss as he tries to attack the conehead's attention. "Catechism! Like this!" He points quickly to the correct controls on his own station, then demonstrates. Point and click! See, it's easy! Catechism actually joins in on the channel chatter, as her supreme leader knows her name, spookily enough, and responds simply, "Yes, sir!" Outside> A white ship launches from one of the flagships docking bays. At first glance it looks out of place....a small streamlined fighter. Upon closer inspection you see that it is none other than the Decepticon Bandit. His modifications making his performance in space equally effective as of that in the atmosphere. The seeker zips in and out of the crevaces and hardpoints of the flagship as it heads towards the terran ship. In a moment, he clears out and makes a bee-line for the terran vessel. He arms some newly aquired high end missiles and prepares an entire salvo of them. As he does he scans for weaknesses in the vessels superstructure. After reaching an 87 percent assuridy of a weakened seam, he opens up and launches 4 nasty looking missiles. They fly in timed intervals and are space linearly so that each successive blast will penetrate deeper. Bandit says, "commencing attack run" Outside> Within the EDC AF-27 , Kenya Momesa was ready for the attack, which is good for him because he barely manages to avoid the burning plasma flying towards him. He dives towards the hurt, one of his wing his partially burned, but nothing serious. It was close but he got what he wanted, Scourge's attention and a somewhere in a corner of his head, he hopes he won't regret it. "Nice try Scourgy, but you tried it last time. Let me show you a new trick." Momesa bring the Starskimmer back towards Scourge firing his machine guns, not very subtle either but pretty efficient. Catechism pays attention to Fleet's advice, although she looks frustrated with herself for not knowing how to do this on her own. Ah, okay, this makes sense now. She quickly waves a thanks back to the other seeker and continues with a lot more success in manipulating the turret station. Outside> Galvatron looks over to the brigebound turret controllers "STOP MISSING DAMN YOU! Hit the shuttles!" Michael Briar chuckles, "Looks like your gunners could use more practice." Galvatron says, "So could yours. By my count, we're way ahead." Galvatron says, "Maybe you should have listened to the Autobots and built a real fleet." Outside> White Su-35 XS strikes Interstellar Shuttle with Apocalypse Missile. Foxfire makes a coughing noise that sounds suspiciously like "stuff it". Michael Briar says, "The winner isn't determined till the *boom!* ugh...end!" Galvatron says, "Yes Briar, and your ship is a little close to mine, I wonder what will happen if I target it with full turrets?" Fleet cringes at his Emperor's shout and grits his metallic teeth. He's doing the best he can, but this isn't how he's meant to fight! This turrets don't respond like his own weaponry, making compensating for the motion of the shuttles that much more difficult. He narrows his eyes and leans into the controls, putting all of his focus into trying to hit the EDC shuttles. He no longer takes any time to check up on how Catechism's doing, now only bothering about his own station and, consequently, his own survival. Scattershot says, "And I wonder what might happen if I shove my shiny new nosecone straight up your old and busted afterburners, Galvatron!" Outside> Interestingly, Scourge doesn't try to evade this time. In fact, he actually accelerates at Momesa's Starskimmer, taking the shots. Most of them bounce off the armor, although a few do penetrate and do some minor damage. A soft, yet ominous chuckle is all Momesa hears through the radio. And still, Scourge keeps coming, seemingly oblivious to the firepower directed his way, and firing occasionally in return, in what looks to be an attempt at forcing Momesa to stay the course. Time to play chicken. Outside> In the meantime, the fighter wings continue their work. Several more are shot down, but more than enough of the fighters are still around and going after the EDC forces to make it a hairy experience for the humans. Outside> Autobot Shuttle enters from the Autobot City landing pad. Outside> Autobot Shuttle has arrived. Outside> Battlecruiser enters from the Autobot City landing pad. Outside> Battlecruiser has arrived. Catechism winces and looks pained. Hey, she's just a grunt who has led a rather unremarkable life! She doesn't have training on manning a turret station on a sophisticated warship. She's used to hauling herself off on a raid or other sortie and fighting with her own weapons. The cloudy seeker is giving the unfamiliar task her all, and since Fleet's advice, she *has* improved. Outside> Within the Interstellar Shuttle , Michael Briar feels the ship rock and groan with that impact. But hardly slows the armored shuttle down. Sparks fly off a blown console and lights up the dim bridge slightly. Michael puts the hammer down and throttles the ship full and sets the shuttle's autonav for a course towards the Annihilator's engine section, towards the rear. Michael gets up and makes a run towards the rear and a waiting Starknight. He looks at the device and grins saying, "Common, make a big hole for me." Then he slips into his Starknight exo-suit. He stomps towards the exit and then looks down the hall. "Oh crap..." he says. The view shows a 'really' close decepticon hull. Michael moves faster, faster than he has in quite a while. He hits the open button and skips the air lock cycling. He opens the shuttle to open vacuum, which he is 'pushed' out into. The starknight tumbles and flows over one of the wings of the shuttle bouncing along and spinning in the starlined darkness. The shuttle roars on towards the flagship as the timer ticks down. ...3... ...2... ...1... The darkness is turned to light as the prototype fusion overloads and explodes with the impact of the damaged Asimov into the rear of the decepticon flagship. Like a small sun, the ship is turned to pure energy and explodes. Outside> Within the Interstellar Shuttle , Michael Briar drops Exo-Suit 5802 . Outside> Within the Interstellar Shuttle , Michael Briar suits up and seals Exo-Suit 5802 around himself. Outside> Within the Interstellar Shuttle , Exo-Suit 5802 starts up smoothly, generator softly humming. Outside> Exo-Suit 5802 disembarks from the Interstellar Shuttle . Outside> Exo-Suit 5802 has arrived. Outside> Interstellar Shuttle has left. Outside> Within the EDC AF-27 , Kenya Momesa frowns as Scourge flies right towards him. The Decepticons is a bit faster than the Starskimmer but he's also more armored... If he dodges, Scourge may interferes with the plan, but if he doesn't... it could hurt. He hesitates for less than a second, the AF-27 are pretty tough, he should survive... The benefactor doesn't try to avoid the Sweepcraft, he charges right towards it...at full speed. But he also puts his armor on... just in case. Outside> Within the Autobot Shuttle , Rodimus Prime sits in the command chair. His photon eliminator rests along one of his legs while he watches the sight outside. Terrans vs Cons. Guess who's winning? Rodimus says, "Woh..." and looks worried for his human allies. Who wouldn't be? Galvatron dammits, "Unicron damn it all! Damage report?!" The robot replies, "Undamaged sir. But aft port sensors will be down for 2 minutes for recycling." Galvatron snarls, "Full internal alert. THey knew that wouldn't hurt us. Expect a boarding party!" Outside> DIS Annihilator rattles under the blast, but remains undamaged and holds it's position. The cannon is 3/4 charged now. Galvatron says, "Scourge. Watch us. They knew that didn't have what it took to hurt us. Just blind us. They're up to something." Outside> Within the Autobot Shuttle , Foxfire peers out of the window he's sitting next too, putting one forepaw on the glass. His ears go down again, as they tend to do when he's upset. He seems to be twitching with anxiety. "C'mon," he mumbles to himself. "I gotta do *somethin'*..." Outside> Within the Autobot Shuttle , Durango is sitting quietly on the floor, back resting against the chair that any normal mech would use to sit in. He's busy cleaning and reassembling his arm-mounted plasma cannons, one last time. By his side is an oversized six-pack..never know when one might need a bomb. Outside> Michael Briar tumbles in the dark void of space. After seeing his favorite shuttle go boom, his prototype fusion engine make a bigger boom, and 'NOT' make a hole. He's got to be pissed. But no, Michael isn't. He's hurt. Hitting a shuttle going full throttle's got to knock some wind out of you exo-suit or not. He slowly turns in place and mumbles, "Crap...didn't make hole. Ugh...." Outside> Hearing the last issued commands from Galvatron, the white seeker sets up a position aft the the flagship, sensors sweeping the area for approaching vessels. Bandit thinks to himself (If there is going to be a boarding party, he will be darned sure he greets them before they even get close.) Outside> Telestar transmits a message via radio to Rodimus Prime. Outside> Within the Autobot Shuttle , Rodimus Prime receives a radio transmission from Telestar. Outside> Within the Autobot Shuttle , Rodimus Prime transmits a message via radio to Telestar. Outside> Telestar receives a radio transmission. Galvatron says, "Cover our port aft. We're blind there and the hull is somewhat weakened." Galvatron says, "Not enough to cause any danger...but if they're up to something..." Outside> Power Armor is the one with space capabilities, experience, and... technical difficulties. She's going to have to hang back slightly, and work on the dodging bit. Bandit says, "I am on it Lord Galvatron....if anything tries to approach from this area ...you will be the first to know." Outside> Sweep-Flagship <> smirks inwardly. Oh, this promises to be /very/ interesting. He's staying the course as well. Intriguing, but no matter. Scourge plans to eradicate the starfighter entirely. "You may feel a slight... bump..." he intones over the radio, charging right at the starfighter. Outside> Sweep-Flagship <> strikes EDC AF-27 with Collision. Outside> Fleet acknowledges his leader's latest round of orders with a muttered, 'Aye,' but it's so quiet that, in all likelihood, the word is drowned out in the battle. He still has to man his turret (or should that be 'mech his turret'?) and he keeps his focus there, although for just a moment he's distracted by a desire to be part of the internal security crews instead. But no... Fleet fights poorly when trapped in an enclosed space. He's a seeker. He's meant for the skies, not the stars, and certainly not these halls of metal, but one cannot always choose one's battles. Outside> Within the Autobot Shuttle , Rodimus Prime says, "We've got to get to that explosion site. It'll be our way in." He punches the shuttle's thrusters hard and dodges and weaves through the fighters and battles going on around them. He hears the security chief repeat what he just said and knows. But understands he's just doing his job. Rodimus says, "Assault team, standby." He brings the shuttle in 'close' to the aft section of the ship and watches Bandit closely. A white seeker in a black background is easy to spot. He opens a hatch on the side of the ship and says, "Plasma cut your way in from the damaged section. Should be possible then." Outside> Within the Autobot Shuttle , Durango stands, and his bombs dissappear in a mix of onboard compartments and subspace manipulation. He turns on his plasa rifle at the low-steady setting, and then off. Good. He looks over the hull, looking for the most likely point of stress fracture or weakened support. Finding a good spot, he turns his makeshift tool back on and starts blasting. Outside> Within the EDC AF-27 , "Be careful to not break your nails Scourge..." At the moment, the Sweepcraft rams the AF-27, the collision is horribly violent and Kenya lose control of the Starskimmer which dives right towards the planet, it takes all his experience to bring it back under control. He quickly runs a scan on his fighter, the damage are serious but all the major system are still operational. "I hope your head doesn't hurt too much Scourgy." Outside> The EDC shuttles, one heavily damaged, fights on. The Ticonderoga swerves and dodges between the turrets and skidding over more than a few. It smokes in several places but its lasers and ballistic turrets still strafe over the ship while picking at seekers as it pulls away for another pass. The Intrepid hangs there, its engines damaged beyond working. It's only weapon fending off the circling seekers like a squirtgun against a school of sharks. The Explorer follows the Ticonderoga, luckily undamaged. It's turrets picking at the armor plating and doing little else. It sweeps by and rolls avoiding blaster fire from the 'inept' turrets on the flagship. The Banzai follows a group of fighters moving like a weapons platform keeping a bunch of seekers busy. Several holes have been blasted into the ship, but thanks to the crew, it still flies. But it'll need some major patching up after this. Galvatron says, "Target the Intrepid." Catechism continues to seeker (hah!) her turret station. She makes a mental note to look up the instructions for these things later and read it properly, when there's a lull in the combat. Might make good light reading when she's out on patrol or something. Outside> Bandit immediately sees the Autobot incursion he yells on the open freq "We have Autobot bogies trying to attempt rear entry (lol)" He moves himself into attack position, charging up his capacitors to release a nice healthy burst of energy. He choses the target just aft of the point where Durango and Rodimus are trying to cut through the hull. Once in range he unleashes a series of high yield energy bursts. *BZZZZZWAPPP* The Autobot shuttle, being an easy target is rocked by the attack. Galvatron says, "All available bombers. I want that shuttle dead." Outside> Within the Autobot Shuttle , Foxfire can't help but laugh at his faction's broadband. His amusement passes, however, and he returns his attention to the battle. He's waiting for his chance to be heroic. Or something. Within the Autobot Shuttle , Durango calls back to Foxfire. "Foxeh..find me anythin' in this crate 'at'd work as a batterin' ram, 'sides one of us, 'at is." With that, he goes back to work on the hull. Then, a thought. "Commandeh..I might be able teh blow this open once its weak enough..I'm guessin' they alreadeh know we'ah 'eah, might jus' give our welcomin' parteh a stahtle." Galvatron says, "Bandit, REPORT!" Outside> And deep within the Sun's superheated core, the SPACE BEES buzz quietly. Watching. Waiting. Hot bees. Bandit says, "Engaging autobot shuttle...I repeat engaging autobot vessel....they are trying to burn a hole in the damned superstructure.....*he fizzles into static*" Outside> Out of the Great Blue Yonder comes a fiery speck... dot... exclamation point... object... it's Scattershot! Clearing the atmosphere of the planet, the Battlecruiser makes no effort at subterfuge relative to his trajectory, straight for this grand new Decepticon mothership of Captain Wacky's. He has to admit, it's a sight to behold, even after suffering battle damage, but his resolve is not swayed by mere appearances and bravado. The nosecone spirals already as he prepares to deliver all he can muster. Which oddly, and perhaps woefully, does not include a naked bear. These are perilous times for the Autobots, afterall. Rations must be observed. Outside> Within the Autobot Shuttle , Rodimus Prime understood battering ram and blow this open. He nods and says, "Good, blow it open...just get it done." He looks at the shuttle being attacked and lifts his photon eliminator towards Bandit, firing off a few quick warning shots. "Being quick about it would be a good thing too." Outside> The fighter wings continue their own dance of death, lighting up space with their laser fire and the occasional rocket explosion. At this point, things seem to still be going the Decepticons' way. The 'buzzards' pecking at the nearly-lifeless Intrepid, although an entire wing breaks off their attack on the Ticonderoga to open fire on the Intrepid and make a concerted effort to destroy the crippled vessel outright. Outside> Scourge, meanwhile, bounces off the starfighter, even as it impacts and crumples like so much tin foil from the ramming run. He transforms, disruptor rifle in hand, and fires off a series of disruptor fire at Momesa's battered starfighter. "That's right, Momesa... run," he taunts over the radio. "Run, but know that I'll always find you." Outside> The Sweep-Flagship seems to explode outwards as it shifts and contorts into the visage of Scourge, complete with nifty sound effects. Galvatron says, "SCOURGE!" Galvatron says, "Screw that EDC freak. We have bigger problems. Technobot." Galvatron says, "I want his head." Galvatron says, "Can that be arranged?" Galvatron says, "AND DAMMIT WHERE ARE MY PORTAFT SENSORS?!" Outside> Within the Autobot Shuttle , Foxfire blinks and cants his neck to peer at Durango, trying to decipher his, err, dialogue. He looks back to the window for a moment, then says, "Hey, it's Scattershot!" That said, he attempts to heed Durango's request, and hops out of his seat, trying to find something that's...battering-ram-able. Galvatron says, "We're blind Bandit. We cannot fire safely there." Galvatron says, "1 minute..." Outside> The white seeker rolls in for another attack run. This time he arms up another missile. "This should get their attention...." he locks onto the Autobot shuttle and fires black projectile that heads straight for the shuttle. It is high enough yield that it should make them recognize. *kaboooom* THE MISSILE HITS THE SHUTTLE WITH A THUD! Scourge says, "The head of a Technobot... oh, I'm very certain that can be arranged, my Lord. Would you like the head to remain undamaged, or does it not matter as to its' condition?" Galvatron says, "It doesn't matter." Fleet continues to work the controls that seem clumsy to one used to using only weaponry that is an essential part of his being, bringing the guns to bear against any foe that comes into range. Although he's improving, he continues to have difficulty with the things. Finally he snarls in frustration and slams the fire button off a couple of times almost at random. Knowing his luck, those will be his best hits so far. Recoil says, "Oh, it matters." Galvatron says, "As long as the face remains in tact enough for me to destroy." Outside> EDC AF-27 is struck a couples of times by Scourge's disruptor beams, which damage his engines, not too badly but still enough to slow him down. AS soon as he finally gets his jet back under control, Kenya fires his lasers towards the Sweep, "One step back, two steps fowards." The masai warrior gives a quick look at his console... running low on energy. He sure hopes the Autobots board the shuttle soon... Outside> Within the Autobot Shuttle , Durango stops his laser-ing of the mother...ship. It should be ready. From out of a relative nowhere comes a transformer-sized beer bottle, which Durango breaks open in his hand. He takes a putty-like substance from the broken glass and spreads it in an "I" pattern on the hull. He stands back, far, far away from the opening. "Ah...mates, covah yeh aurals. Foxy, the minute that blows, we'ah gonna rush it with whatevah yeh got, focus on one of the doah-like pahts of it, push it inwahds. We should be able teh make a big enough 'ole, and use the peeled metal as a sheild against the welcomin' committeeh." He raises his arm level to the hull, and his weaponry warms up. He speaks, with some bravado. "Fostah's. Austrahlian feh BOOM!" With that, he fires a single shot at the center of the "I," setting off the explosive in a magnificently small explosive reaction. He doesn't even wait for the smoke to clear. "Now!" With that, he rushes towards where the hull should be, now fractured. Galvatron looks over his shoulder at the seekers, "You two. To the aft with me. NOW. Your turrets are on AI. Cyclonus..." he speaks to his probably present but not in person brother "You have the bridge. Don't do anything stupid." Outside> Power Armor hangs around the fringes of the fleet, monitoring transmissions and such. She's got to know casualty reports and such. Within the Autobot Shuttle , Rodimus Prime flinches at the slight damage from the missile. He growls and charges towards the damaged buckled hull plating. If these guys are going to take forever and just talk, Rodimus is going into action. "Stand aside..." he says with a booming voice. He points his photon elimator DOWN and FIRES on its maximum setting. It slices and melts through the armored plating like a hot knife through butter. Why? Cannon2 baby. He looks at the hole and says, "There, that's how you make a hole. Now get in there..." He glares at Durango and Foxfire with a silent 'Or I'll kill you' glare. Fleet fairly leaps from his station and fires off another salute before following his ruler. "Yes sir!" he acknowledges, to be proper, and allows himself a faint grin at the prospect of finally being allowed to be used as a /proper/ weapon, rather than working through the intermediary of his weapons station. But he's still inside the skin of the ship! Blast! Ah, well... win some, lose some. Outside> Rodimus Prime disembarks from the Autobot Shuttle . Outside> Rodimus Prime has arrived. Catechism slowly regains her usual cheer and enthusiasm, as their Lord seems to be busy figuring out what trophies he wants cut off the Autobots. And then Galvatron orders Fleet and her with him to the back. Ulp. She salutes smartly, replies obediently with "Sir!" and follows quickly but not with her normal heavy steps, arming her weapons as she runs. Outside> Within the Autobot Shuttle , Durango is already rushing towards it, so we'll figure that somewhere in the space-time-pose continuum, it just so happens that Durango keeps rushing, right into the ship. He stops himself short, and prepares for a fight, should one be there to greet them. Rodimus Prime has arrived. Outside> Durango disembarks from the Autobot Shuttle . Durango has arrived. Outside> Within the Autobot Shuttle , Foxfire squeaks at Rodimus, giving him an odd, almost frightened look, before bolting after Durango. It's a very good thing the fox brought a spare bomb with him, it seems. Outside> Foxfire disembarks from the Autobot Shuttle . Outside> Foxfire has arrived. White Su-35 XS has arrived. Outside> Something glints on the edge of the Earth's horizon, blending at first with the backdrop of streaking laser fire and glittering stars, but swiftly coalescing into a distinct mass as it reaches its apogee and hurtles over the planet's atmosphere toward the battle site. Like a gorgeously rendered model on the latest $800 graphics accelerator, light shimmers reflectively over the black and gold paneled fuslage and white steel wings edged with crimson; crisp shadows bring into crystalline relief the utter overkill of weaponry bristling from every possible port. The starfighter banks and streaks sideways to accept the pummeling of a hail of laser fire meant for a retreating EDC ship, black score marks marring the thick armor plating of the hull. A barrage of ballistics fire spits forth in response from twin gatling guns mounted to the fuselage, providing cover fire for the damaged craft. Outside> Victory Starfighter transmits to broadband: "Anyone mind if I crash this party?" Outside> The Intrepid finally, after taking so many hits and blasting so many con seekers, explodes. Like a blossoming flower, it is enveloped in a large fireball coming from its core until it is no more than dust. The Ticonderoga and Explorer scream over head turning from the flagship and focusing on the seekers who dared to kill their fellow shuttle. Missiles scream out from each of the shuttles detonating along the line of seekers that pull away from the now dead Intrepid. The Banzai, finally retreating, is saved by an unknown starfighter and is able to retreat without little else damaging it. It makes a bee line straight for the safety of the space station not so far away. Outside> DIS Annihilator continues roaring onwards. It's finally not blinded. The turrets of the ship fire! Blasting at the Autobot shuttle attached to it with expert precision. The Main Cannon goes off again, towards Earth. Could this be the end of Des Moines?! NO! The shot misses in the ocean again! The blinded sensors must have helped! Thank god for that! Rodimus Prime clicks on his broadband. "Victory Leo? Sure, the more the merrier." He lands with a thud on the cold hard deck plating of the engine room, this one at least. With his photon eliminator still smoking, he crunches down on a chunk of hull like it was so much tinfoil and says, "Get this place lit up. We'll be having company soon." Outside> Scourge smirks at his handiwork, although he does take a couple of shots for his arrogance. Big surprise there, right? "Remember, prey... remember the fate that awaits you." He transforms, launching away from his little foray with Momesa, and heading towards the newly directed threat: Scattershot. Time to scalp a Technobot. The new arrival, however, puts a bit of a damper on those plans. New prey... potentially. The question now is, who does he go after? Outside> Scourge seems to fold in on himself as he shifts and contorts into the visage of the Sweep-Flagship, complete with nifty sound effects. Galvatron storms towards the back of the ship, angered. "I know what they are doing. They must be stopped. They must be destroyed!" he radios "Seal any bulkheads that open up from any attemtps to board my baby. Full security alert." he continues storming towards the hole "Soundwave! Initiate Operation Carboyma!" Bandit growls into his comlink "They have breached the hull....I will try to stall their advance....but this is not going to be easy....." he shuts his comms down and aims for the hole in the hull. He angles his wings just so, so that he barely squeezes through. It is a desperate maneuver, but if there is any decepticon with the skills to pull a manuever off like that...it is this one. As he rolls into the ship he also powers up his energy typhoon protocols, and sets it to hit everything in the immediate area. He crosses his fingers and prays to primus he can buy Galvatron some time. Galvatron says, "We are already enroute." Outside> The fighter wings that just finished taking out the Intrepid turn now to engage the Explorer and Ticonderoga, although this time the damage is more severe. More seekers go tumbling from the fire; some of them from being a bit closer than they should have been when the Intrepid exploded, but several more from not seeing the new threat until it was too late. At this point, it seems that perhaps an entire wing has been lost, but two wings still remain... and the other half of the contingent is still waiting to get in on the action. Galvatron says, "Launch the rest of the fighters." Durango gets to clappin' makin' the insides of his new ride light right up like a fish fry. Dual plasma cannons and a healthy array of explosives help him make this a warm Christmas for some baby engines. Outside> DIS Annihilator opens it's launch bays. The other half of the Decepticon contingent begins to launch. Outside> Within the EDC AF-27 , Kenya Momesa may be born under a good star, he's fight wasn't going too well and now Scourge is forced to leave him alone. At least Kenya reached his goal, Scourge can't stop the boarding anymore. "To all squadron leaders, report your status." Bandit unleashes his Maelstrom Barrage attack on Rodimus Prime, Foxfire and Durango, striking Durango. Outside> Power Armor will be over here. Trying to locate the General, and make sure that the EDC doesn't have to find a new leader. Er.... Scary fleet. And another Machine in the area... Thank the goddess that she's not a squadron leader anymore. Foxfire is right behind Durango, carrying some sort of explosive device in his mouth. That's the cool thing about being a saboteur: you get to play with bombs! "Just tell me when, Durango... I'll blow this thing sky high." Figuratively, of course. Except for the exploding part. Fleet scurries after Galvatron, being more a scurrier than a stormer and a stomper, fists clenched and expression set. This would be his first time fighting alongside his commander, and he prayed he could keep his cowardice in check sufficiently to keep it from being his last time fighting, ever. Outside> While the King of all Soap Dishes tries to make up his mind between Scattershot and Victory Leo, the Technobot had his own mind made up before he even left the launching pad at Autobot City. The Starfighter is certainly free to go for whatever it likes. As such, the spinning nosecone breaks in half, shield snapping back into full retraction. The nosecone pulses with crimson energy generated from deep within the bowels of the craft. Particles swirl around the tip as energon licks up the shaft, ignites the particles and blasts forth at the DIS. Specifically, the bridge. Scourge says, "New contact. It's... Unicron's beard. It's Victory Leo!" Galvatron says, "WHAT?" Galvatron says, "Turrets. New Target." Galvatron says, "Target Victry Leo." Durango is rocked by some kind of of unposed attack coming through a tiny hole, and is damaged accordingly. Responding as he would to ______, he gets back up and goes about his business. "Rodimus, we'ah all set ovah 'eah. Jus' gotta set it off on yoah command." Short, and to the point. Outside> Victory Starfighter swoops through a tight bootlegger, leaving a quickly-dispersing ionic trail of rainbow sparklies in his wake. Without cutting speed he bears down on the newly-launched fleet with predatory intent, wingtip lasers spitting scatter fire into the field, then suddenly glowing brightly as they discharge a heavy plasma pulse into the front end of one of the gumby fighters. He streaks through the brilliant explosion of orange, traces of plasma fire flickering briefly along his wings and then dissipating. Foxfire, luckily, avoids the attack, and moves closer to Durango, staying near, with the bomb in his paws. Outside> DIS Annihilator 's turrets have new targets. They have...Leo. They turrets, half of the 400 begin to fire. They open up on the fighter, hoping to keep it at bay. Rodimus Prime feels the beams of energy falling all about him like rain from the jet entering the TF sized hole. But he turns towards the white jet and points his photon eliminator towards it, like it's a death sentence. Rodimus glares at the jet and says, "No." then fires. The room suddenly brightens as he pulls the trigger sending a large beam of energy, though not as powerful as the first towards the white seeker. Rodimus Prime manages to hit Bandit with his Photon Eliminator . Durango begins work on a dangerous explosive device. Galvatron continues storming towards the back "RODIMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMUS! I will kill you! You will learn the errors of your ways!" the all of a sudden the hull explodes! "Seal that bulkhead! Seal it now!" but it is too late. He is sucked out of the ship, flailing about in space. The bulkhead closes behind him. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Galvatron says, "YOU TWO. STOP THEMMMMM!!!!! *crackle fizzle*" White Su-35 XS gets rocked and I mean ROCKED!!!!!!! It is a good thing he got his systems upgraded, or else he would have been even more toasty and crispy as he just got served. The seeker transforms and gets slammed like a ping pong ball about the interior of the ship, the zero g making a spectacle of him. Out from the smoke two purple optics blaze in anger and defiance....he will not go down like that. He raises his right arm and steadies his aim on the autobot trying to set the charge....."DIE AUTOBOT SCUMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he opens up with everything he has left in him. The nose bends forward as the wings flip and rotate backwards. The engines spilt and extend, as arms, fists and feet are revealed. A head flips upward and locks into place with a purple shimmer of the optics. Bandit strikes Durango with Fusion Beam. Foxfire gently puts Spare Explosive down. Bandit strikes Durango with Fusion Beam. Outside> Sweep-Flagship <> growls inwardly. His moment of indecision between Victory Leo and Scattershot was just long enough to let Scattershot get off his shot. Afterburners kick in as Scourge accelerates full-tilt, heedless of the danger. "I'm going to gut your worthless chassis, Technobot. Prepare to be eradicated!" And he opens fire, plasma beams streaking through space towards Scattershot. Outside> Sweep-Flagship <> misses Battlecruiser with his Disintegrator Ray attack. Outside> Victory Starfighter twists and rolls through the battery of turret fire, accepting several hits to his armored hull as a matter of course in avoiding any incapacitating blasts. Smoke flares briefly from a struck plasma vent, then hisses out as the power conduit is automatically rerouted. With an inward animalistic grin that quickly resolves itself to visibility, he streaks up and over the plane of fire and transforms to his more feral mode, crashing with a metallic thud with all four legs into the Annihilator's hull. With a roar that fails to carry through the airless vaccuum of space, the lion's head dips and beartrap jaws snap over one of the laser turrets, wrenching it bodily from its mooring. Outside> Victory Leo shifts to lion mode. Oh. Scrap. Galvatron is gone and now it's up to Fleet and Catechism to take on Foxfire, Durango... and /Rodimus/. Firking RODIMUS PRIME. This bodes. This really, really bodes. The pastel yellow Seeker raises his arms and points at Prime. Sure, he'd rather pick on the cassette, but let's face it... sooner or later, he'll still have to deal with Prime. Might as well try it while he's still at full strength. There are no taunts, no orders to back down, nothing. No point. Instead, he just fires. Point. And click. Fleet strikes Rodimus Prime with Rail Gun. Galvatron says, "*crackle* Scourge... crackle... Rodimus... crackle... inside." Durango no sooner finishes setting the Decepticons up the bomb when he's attacked..again. Well, this will not go unpunished. As soon as he picks him-no, not even. From the floor, he raises his arms in defiance, and brings his weaponry up to full power..which was much more powerful 28 END ago. Nonetheless, he's had enough of being shot at. Time to shoot back. Durango manages to hit Bandit with his Canberra Cannon :(Heavy on the Starch): Setting. So there's... a few Autobots here. Oh, and leakin' Rodimus slaggin' Prime. Catechism gulps, clicks the setting of her arms guns over to gauss, and aims at said leakin' Rodimus slaggin' Prime. Is this rational? No. But neither is attacking Superion when one happens to be a seeker of tinfoil. Vaguely, somewhere in her muddled mind, she's hoping that if she attack Rodimus first, she can get the worst over with quickly or at least confuse them. Catechism strikes Rodimus Prime with gauss. Foxfire carefully picks up Spare Explosive. Galvatron has disconnected. Rodimus Prime crouches, ready to pounce one of the cons, and pounce he shall. He calls out, "Durango, Foxfire, if your bomb is ready, set it, and get your hulls back to the ship! That's an order!" He leaps out towards Catechism, arm out wide while he takes several small blasts which bounces off his arms and legs. His thick legs pump and carry him over to the seeker who he whips his arm out to go for one of those clothes lines he sees in pro-wrestling. Foxfire sets up his own explosive. Always keep a spare with you. He fiddles with it, trying to ignore the sounds of battle, and eventually it's done. "That should do it," he mutters, and starts to high-tail it out of there. Rodimus Prime strikes Catechism with clothes line!. Bandit takes the shot in the shoulder and rolls over hard. He shakes his head in defiance. This is not good....but he is not one to give up. The odds may be bad...but it is these situations that he lives for....and that he is prepared to give his life for unlike some. He struggles to regain his balance and almost looks as if he cannot attack, when his chest begins to glow and he fires a black globe towards Durango. "You will not drop me that easily Autobot....even with your commander's assistance...." Bandit strikes Durango with Gravitic Pulse. Outside> Within the EDC AF-27 , Outside, the battle continue between the Decepticons fighters and the EDC, Kenya flies between the other jets destroying a Decepticons here and there. "Come on guys! The Bots are in, keep destroying those Decepticons to buy them some time!" Catechism staggers back, optics wide. Her torso buckles, her cockpit glass shattering like a dropped plate. There's no defiant stare and no last threats. She just has a final thought that yes, attacking Rodimus Prime did get the worst over quickly. How wonderful! Then, the seeker is out, her optics dimmed with stasis, and she crumples down onto the floor in a heap of damaged seeker. Fleet spins to track the Autobot commander with his weapons. Damn! He's engaged Catechism in melee! Well, nothing for it, and when the conehead falls it works effectively enough to clear his line of fire. The fear dances in his optics as he takes a couple of steps away from Prime, but still he fires. One thing about being a coward of his extreme caliber is that, because he's /always/ afraid of something or another, he's worked out how to work through his fear a good long while ago. Fleet strikes Rodimus Prime with Not In The Face! Not In The Face!. Outside> Power Armor is still finding Briar. Like the field medic she is. Catechism has disconnected. Outside> Victory Lion slashes a paw into the rift left by the turret he just wrenched loose, and draws it back with claws tangled in wiring. Growling his displeasure, he shakes his paw vigorously to loose the wiring from it, then suddenly flattens himself, snarling, on his belly against the hull as a wing of hostile fighters breaks away from the fleet for a strafing run against him. A barrage of minimissiles streak from the rocket launchers on his back, swinging round in an arc to pursue the attacking wing; and then the great cat leaps, claws splayed, to pounce on a lone gumby who thought to blindside him. Durango doesn't have to be told twice. His bomb is set, and really, he's got better things to do today than die. He gets out of there the best way he can..he uses what little energy he has left to transform, rolling down his windows. "Foxeh! Jump in!" With or without Foxfire inside (dependant on player pose), he speeds off towards the hole to the shuttle outside. Durango shifts down into SUV mode. Durango retreats from the area swiftly, outdistancing all pursuit and parting shots. Foxfire looks up at Durango, and nods once, before jumping in. He's tired, but he's still willing to keep going if he needs to, and he knows he's not out of danger yet. "Thanks, man." Outside> Michael Briar shakes his head and moans softly. He opens his eyes and says, "Daaaam. I...I'm alive? God, feels like I got hit with a mac truck." He brings his suit online and begins scanning. Well, no targets around here. The starknight's engines come online and he flies off towards Layla Bastet's locator signal. Outside> Victory Lion killed Earthscorch! Rodimus Prime just takes off. Since the bombs are going to explode, he'd rather not stick around and shoot any decepticons right now. He looks back towards the cons, "Well, it's been fun, but ah, I wouldn't stick around here if I were you." And he jumps out of the hole to run his little matrix off towards the shuttle. You could almost hear Curly Joe going woop woop woop woop nuk nuk as he runs. Rodimus Prime begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from A muddied Subaru Outback. Bandit looks at the bomb and having no idea how to disarm it he looks at Fleet ...."Do you know anything about bombs?" Without answering he begins to try and look for a way to disarm the thing. "come on ....come on...there has to be a way to do this...it looks so easy in the movies....." he transmits on his com-radio. Bandit says, "Can anyone tell me how to disarm a bomb in like 30 seconds????!?!??!?!" Outside> Victory Lion is blissfully unaware of any bombs about to explode, and remains on the outer hull of the destroyer, roaring with delight at any incoming fire that dares touch him, and returning it in kind. He takes one nasty shot in the chest from a fortuitously angled turret and whirls on it swiftly, crushing the barrel between his teeth. Outside> Sweep-Flagship <>, deciding that taking shots at someone who isn't going to shoot back isn't much fun, decides to go after new prey. He heads back towards the flagship, oblivious so far to the danger within... until he gets a com-signal. Earthscorch says, "It's the red wire!" Scourge says, "Bomb... they placed a BOMB in Lord Galvatron's flagship?! If you don't know, then evacuate, fool!" Outside> Power Armor is heading towards Briar's position. Which would probably help, since her suit is a little faster'n his. She'll probably meet him halfway. All right. Rodimus Prime is running away from... Fleet. That is a very, very bad sign. At Bandit's question his optics go wide and he shakes his head in a frantic negatory. "No clue!" He picks up Catechism and prepares to follows Scourge's orders, but there's a hitch... Bandit manages to hit Bandit with his Fusion Beam. Bandit misses Bandit with his Fusion Beam attack. Fleet grabs the conehead and goes running for the escape pods that his player assumes are somewhere on this thing, as he's not space capable and knows full well his wingmate isn't either. He doesn't even stop to wonder why Bandit is attack himself with unposed attacks. Within the EDC AF-27 , Kenya Momesa has disconnected. Outside> Sweep-Flagship <> launches forward towards the aft of the Annihilator, and the moment he gets sight of the Autobot shuttle, he opens fire with everything he can muster. Quantum torpedoes, plasma-disintegrator cannons, the works. o O (If the Autobots want to play with explosives, then they'll suffer the consequences of their folly!) Outside> Scattershot has disconnected. Bandit hears Red wire, he opens up the casing as fast as he can. He is already leaking energon all over. His fingers shake as he searches for the red wire. Yes there it is....in all its glory. But wait there is more than one. He prays to primus and sends one last radio call out. "Evacuate......I will give this one last shot........if I save the ship...then it was a success....if not.....then may meet Primus....." He clips the Red Wire.... The Annihilator floats along and slowly begins flashing explosions towards the rear of ship. Chunks of hull begins to split off the ship as flames begin gouting from the ship. It slowly begins to disintegrate with larger and larger explosions that rip across the ship. It begins bulging about this time slowly distending, then the whole thing goes up in a bright white light with no sound. Since well, there's no sound in space. Small chunks of the ship begin to plummet through the atmosphere but are quickly burnt up like a shower of gold across the northern hemisphere. Outside> Exo-Suit 5802 has left. Outside> Victory Lion's head snaps around sharply as he catches sight of Scourge streaking past with a purpose. He ducks slightly, hunching his shoulders, and then bounds after the Sweep Commander, racing over the hull of the massive warship as hostile fire continues to explode all around. His stride lengthens with every footfall until he reaches the terminus of solid footing; then his powerful hindquarters bunch and launch him through empty space, claws splayed, snarling muzzle agape, on a trajectory to collide with the back end of the sweep flagship. Fleet desperately attempts to outrun disintegration of the warship even as he is burdened by his usual wing mate. Just in time he dives into the nearest escape pod, pulling the hatch closed behind me and hitting the big red button that he hopes like hell means, 'Deploy'. Of course, since it's just an escape pod, this effective leaves him out of the rest of this as his player waits for friendly adminly type assistance to place him somewhere else. Outside> The explosions along the Annihilator are coming up fast behind Scourge... as is the leaping figure of a large lion. Just what Scourge needs: his very own pet. But most of his fire towards the shuttle gets caught up in the explosions, and he has to peel off before he gets blown to kingdom come. The shockwave of the blast, however, sends him hurtling out of control and off into the depths of space. Might be a little bit before Scourge can correct himself from that little problem. A muddied Subaru Outback has left. Outside> A muddied Subaru Outback has arrived. Outside> A muddied Subaru Outback has left. Outside> A muddied Subaru Outback boards the Autobot Shuttle . Rodimus Prime has left. Outside> Rodimus Prime boards the Autobot Shuttle . Foxfire has left. Outside> Foxfire has arrived. Outside> Foxfire has left. Outside> Foxfire boards the Autobot Shuttle . Outside> Victory Lion is caught up, and launched forward with far more impetus than he had calculated upon. He twists, predictably catlike, trying to regain his bearings, but in the end is blown end-over-end with a noiseless yowl of rage. A poorly-timed blast from a maneuvering thruster knocks him into the thin atmosphere of Earth's upper stratosphere, and the giant metallic cat quickly disappears into a smoking funnel of re-entry. Outside> Autobot Shuttle heads in for a landing to Landing Pad. Outside> Autobot Shuttle has left. Outside> Michael Briar has disconnected. Outside> Victory Lion soars downward towards the Stratosphere above Western Hemisphere below. Outside> Victory Lion has left. Outside> Milstar II Telecommunications Satellite floats on, still in orbit, untouched by the battle. Its good having a non-confrontary altmode.